"A safe place to learn, grow and be" is among the many positive messages on display at an exhibition to mark the 25^th anniversary of the Triangle Community Garden in Hitchin.

Volunteers, project participants, staff and the public gathered to mark the opening in the Arches gallery at the North Hertfordshire Museum.

For a quarter of a century, the charity has been bringing people of all ages and abilities together through the joy of gardening, creativity and nature at Ransoms Recreation Ground.

As part of the celebrations, a £5k Crowdfunder campaign has also been launched to support the charity's various garden clubs – these are the volunteers, led by a member of staff, who help keep nature thriving at the community gardens. 

Vicky Wyer, chair of trustees and founder, said: "It's brilliant to see our work celebrated in this way – earlier in the week our Growing Ability gardeners visited, and the pride on their faces to see themselves portrayed in the displays was wonderful.

"We're really grateful to everyone who helped put this exhibition together and to the museum for this opportunity. Being able to give visibility to the nature connection work we do, but also to our diverse and often underrepresented community, is invaluable."

The free exhibition, entitled Connecting, Growing and Enjoying Nature for 25 years, at the museum in Brand Street, runs until 12 April. It is filled with photographs, stories and a film that highlights the milestones, activities and events over the years. From growing food and tending plants to creating wildlife habitats, learning new skills and discovering the natural world.

Among those at the museum on Friday was Chris Mathiesen, who was the first volunteer at Triangle's Friday Garden Club. She signed up when she moved to Hitchin after she retired as a purchasing administrator 12 years ago.

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"I didn't know anyone in the town when a leaflet came through the door about the garden club. I decided to volunteer because in my job I had been on a team, and I missed that. When I first went along, there was just Steve [the horticultural manager] and me before others joined.

"I really enjoy working alongside other volunteers planting seeds and seeing them grow. I make jams and chutneys from the produce for the Triangle Garden's annual Apple Day and other events."

Horticultural manager and session leader Steve Granger, who has played a pivotal role in the success of the charity's garden clubs, said: "It is great to see the number of volunteers and groups expand over the years and how the community gardens have changed. I remember when there were just a couple of trees in the forest garden, but now it is full of trees and greenery."

The 25^th anniversary celebrations also include plans for new swathes of wildflower planting, more woodland edge habitat and new benches and bug hotels across Ransoms Rec.

In addition to seasoned volunteers and Growing Ability gardeners, the exhibition highlights the involvement of younger people through projects like the Family Forest School and Triangle Tribe and Sunday Garden Club, a monthly family-friendly community gardening session. This spring and summer a group living in temporary accommodation and people from local businesses will help to transform the central area of the park.

Harrison Clarke, a 23-year-old job seeker, expressed his gratitude for the opportunities the garden club has given him after he joined last June. He had been unemployed since completing a four-year IT course at a college in Stevenage in 2024.

"My dad was walking past the park one day and saw people in the garden club and said I should apply. I never really knew much about gardening, but since I started, I've been learning about plants and nature and gaining new skills.

"Talking to people and socialising makes you feel good. I've been on day trips with the volunteers to the Cambridge Botanical Gardens. I would encourage other young people to join," said Harrison, who goes to the garden club on a Friday and volunteers at a charity shop on other days in the week.

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Triangle Community Garden also runs various social, therapeutic horticulture and health and wellbeing projects, aimed at people with additional needs and those facing isolation in the community. These are funded either through social care funding or from grants and donations.

However, there is no such funding stream for the charity's garden clubs – these are funded primarily through events' fundraising and sales of plants - but more funds are needed. A £5k crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help with ongoing costs.

Volunteer Fiona Dolman, a director at a public health body and one of the organisers of the exhibition, said: "The fact that the garden club is growing is fantastic. It would not exist without volunteers, but we have a funding gap that needs to be met."

She added: "Joining the garden club in 2018 was one of the best things I've done in my life. I would describe it as the place where I feel really safe and supported, and I'm always looking forward to seeing my friends. It is so good for you being outdoors in good company and making things grow. It is joyous."

A sentiment shared by fellow exhibition organiser and engineer Mariana Mercado, who is from Argentina and lives in Hitchin. She joined the garden club in 2017.

"I thought if I joined the club I would start learning about gardening in this country. I didn't know much about what plants to grow in the weather here, which is completely different from the subtropical climate in the north of Argentina.

"I also didn't feel quite right in my mind at the time, so I needed something to ground me. What I found at the club was a human connection and a space that everyone in the community of all ages could enjoy."

Other volunteers agreed. Luiza, who is from Brazil but has lived in Hitchin for 18 years, signed up a year ago. "It was a birthday present to myself, and I couldn't be happier – everyone makes you feel so welcome."

Among them, Lesley from Stevenage, who often makes amazing cakes to share with other volunteers when they stop for tea after the session ends on Friday mornings.

"When I come along, I learn so much. If you don't know something about a plant, you can easily ask somebody else, and no one minds. I think it is a great club for people to join," she said.

For more information about the Triangle Community Garden go to trianglegarden.org

To donate to the Garden Club Crowdfunder visit crowdfunder.co.uk/p/garden-club

For details about the exhibition go to northhertsmuseum.org